Gay rights advocates and their supporters in Congress are pressing the Clinton administration to combat harassment against homosexuals in the armed forces while laying the groundwork to overturn the military's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy, now enshrined in law.

The conviction of an Army private in the slaying of a gay soldier at a base in Kentucky, followed by campaign vows from Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vice President Al Gore to end what they say is a failed policy, has galvanized opposition to the contentious compromise that President Clinton and Congress reached in 1993. The issue had largely vanished from public debate until now.

''There's an opportunity to follow up, there's a focus on this again,'' said Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, who is one of three openly gay members of Congress.

Six years after one of the most painful episodes of the Clinton presidency, one that brought the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the brink of revolt and fell far short of Mr. Clinton's pledge to allow gays to serve openly, the president's political heirs are again struggling with the issue of gays in the military.

On Monday, a dozen aides representing House and Senate Democrats met with gay rights groups in Mr. Frank's office to talk strategy. The immediate priority, aides said, is to work on steps to make military life better for gays, who are allowed to serve as long as they keep their sexual orientation private.

This week, 15 Democrats, including Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, the House minority leader, and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, urged Mr. Clinton to punish soldiers who harassed service members perceived to be gay, and to punish commanders who condoned such behavior.

''An indispensable element in the lessening of hostility toward gays and lesbians in the military is for you to take action against those responsible for condoning and, in some cases, contributing to, that climate of hostility,'' the lawmakers said in a Dec. 21 letter.

Next month, Mr. Frank and other lawmakers are expected to request a meeting with Defense Secretary William S. Cohen; the White House chief of staff, John Podesta; and Mr. Clinton's national security adviser, Samuel R. Berger, to discuss how the Pentagon can carry out its policy more effectively. This could mean imposing tighter guidelines on inquiries into homosexual conduct and barring health-care providers from turning in gay patients.

Earlier this month, Mr. Cohen dispatched the Pentagon's inspector general to major military bases to gauge the harassment problem.

Lawmakers and gay rights advocates are also likely to pressure the Army to retain Steve May, a reservist who earlier this year discussed his homosexuality in a debate in the Arizona Legislature. Mr. May is a conservative Republican member of the Arizona House.

Gay rights advocates intend to make the issue a priority on the campaign trail, especially in the Democratic primaries in New York and California, where Mr. Gore and his rival for the presidential nomination, former Senator Bill Bradley, are courting a sizable gay vote. In September, Mr. Bradley said that homosexuals should be allowed to serve openly in the armed forces. This month, Mr. Gore made a similar call for the elimination of the policy.

But the long-term goal of abandoning ''don't ask, don't tell'' faces strong opposition. The Pentagon is against any changes. So are the Republican presidential candidates and the Republican-controlled Congress.

''The U.S. armed forces aren't some social experiment,'' said Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican and Army veteran.

Even if Mr. Gore or Mr. Bradley is elected and moves to fulfill his pledge to eliminate ''don't ask, don't tell,'' and Democrats reclaim one or both chambers of Congress, Capitol Hill will almost certainly be more conservative than it was in 1993 when a Democrat-controlled Congress codified the policy.

Nonetheless, gay rights advocates in Congress are divided over whether to try to legislate changes next year or wait until the dust settles from the 2000 elections to avoid igniting a conservative backlash.

Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of Manhattan, said he was ''leaning'' toward introducing a bill next year to repeal ''don't ask, don't tell. ''I don't expect a Republican Congress to pass it, but it may serve to generate debate,'' he said.

But Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat who sponsored a similar measure in 1993 that the Senate rejected, 63 to 33, said that without broader public support and a more Democratic Congress, such a step could hurt gay service members.

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Neither Mr. Gore nor Mr. Bradley has said how he would eliminate the policy. Mr. Gore said he would propose legislation, but he did not consult his national security advisers before issuing his one-paragraph promise on Dec. 13, aides said.

Despite the uncertainty, Congressional friends and foes of the policy are drawing battle lines and marshaling opinion polls that each side claims supports its position.

''It's time for the military to move into the 21st century and adopt standards based solely on the achievements of the individual,'' said Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon.

Senator Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, said that most homosexuals should be permitted to serve openly in the military but that he would support ''don't ask, don't tell'' in a handful of elite combat units where morale and cohesion were essential.

''We've got to be realistic about how the military functions,'' Mr. Kerry said. ''I'd bow to the rights of a commander to make choices. When it's life and death, you want to make sure a team has zero issues.''

Conservative Democrats like Representatives Ike Skelton of Missouri and John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, both influential on military matters, said they believed that the policy was working fine.

Republicans have pounced on the issue to illustrate their view that Democrats are out of touch with mainstream America.

''This brings back memories of why the Republicans got the majority in Congress in the first place,'' said John P. Feehery, a spokesman for Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois: ''To combat the liberalism of Hillary Clinton.''

Representative Steve Buyer, an Indiana Republican who heads the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee, sent a memorandum to all House Republicans on Dec. 16 warning of the resurgent debate.

''The prospect of a homosexual openly serving in the military was never contemplated by the Congress,'' it read, ''and any policy that suggests that the military should be receptive to the services of homosexuals is in direct violation of the law.''

Senior military commanders acknowledge that tens of thousands of homosexuals serve ably but privately in the 1.4 million-member military. Many officers say the problem is not that homosexuals are there, but that if they are allowed to serve openly, they could undermine the morale and discipline of fighting units.

A study released this fall by the Triangle Institute for Security Studies, a university consortium, found that 76 percent of senior military officers opposed gays openly serving in uniform.

In the case of Mr. May, the Arizona legislator, military authorities seem truly torn over whether his remarks are grounds for discharge under ''don't ask, don't tell.''

The Army Reserve's investigating officer, Maj. Patricia Maddox, said in her findings earlier this month: ''It appears the immediate commander has not an option but to recommend initiation of a separation action to higher headquarters.''

Nonetheless, Major Maddox urged her command to consider Mr. May's ''outstanding military performance,'' his military and civilian achievements and ''his unlimited potential to be an outstanding asset as a future officer and a leader in the Army Reserves.''

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A version of this article appears in print on December 25, 1999, on Page A00020 of the National edition with the headline: Gay Rights Advocates Plan to Press Clinton to Undo Policy of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe